Thread: Chainsaw "war story"

One if my BIL's asked me if I would look one of his non-running chainsaws.

It was a "McCulloch Eager Beaver", about 20+ years old.
It's just a plastic bodied saw held together mainly by by self tapper screws so I wasn't expecting too much.
BIL said he used it a few times and then it had sat in his (tin) shed until he pulled it out recently but it would not even turn over.
Even though it was filthy, I could tell it had not been used much as the bar and chain looked new.
The "doesn't turn over" issue turned out to be he'd left the chain brake on !

I opened up the fuel tank and on tipping the old fuel out, out came this treacle like substance, the fuel filter and some piece of fuel hose.

Dismantling the starter side I saw that all the hoses (including the hose from the oil tank to the pump) had disintegrated.

Ordered a new primer bulb and hose kit on bay ($15, including delivery).
Rinsed the tank out a few times with fresh fuel - put the thing together but it would not start.
Then I went through full round clean and check, spark plug (gap a bit too wide otherwise OK) Coil filthy but OK.
Carby dismantle and cleaned in fresh fuel.
Now it would start but only run for a few seconds.

At that point and with the help from the guys on Arboristsite.com I realised I had the primer bulb on the wrong way around.
Fixed that, but although it would still start, again it would run for just a few seconds", even with the help of some "Start you bastard" ether based spray.

Back to Arboristsite.com and one guy suggested "carby kit" ,also $15 , including delivery.
Tried that - same problem.

Back to Arboristsite.com and the consensus was there was probably something stuck inside one of the small carby channels. Recommend sitting overnight in carby cleaner.

At this point I realised I had something that was possibly even better - dichloromethane (Cl2CH2) - its the active ingredient used in most paint strippers. We used it at work to dissolve baked on oil in vacuum pumps that sat at over 250ºC 24/7 for many months before they needed cleaning. I now use it to clean 3D printer nozzles as it also eventually dissolves plastic.

Stripped the carby down to just the cast metal and gave it a long soak ON in Cl2CH2 and the a couple of 20 minute bursts in an ultrasonicator, There must have been something in the carby because the final liquid was noticeably cloudy after all that.

Started on the 3rd pull.
I've resurrected about a dozen small chainsaws including ones pulled out of skips in far worse condition the this one so wasn't going to let this one me defeat me.